I'm Lupin For You
by CrazieDasie
Summary: It's Lupercalia and Remus is skittish, Tonks is determined, Sirius is smug and Molly is annoyed by them all. SBRL Takes place during Ootp.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events and/or places that are recognized as being written and created by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters and places from the Harry Potter books including the ones used in this story.**

A/N: Hello all! Happy, late, Valentine's Day! This is a little one shot I just wrote like an hour ago in honor of Lupercalia (Feb. 15th). I should be working on You Might Think...and I am...but I took a mini break because this story was bugging me to write it all day! So here it is! And enjoy! And You Might Think is coming soon! I promise!

&&

"What's the matter with Remus?" Molly asked, still looking back at the kitchen door, with her eyebrows knitted together in Mother Hen worry.

Sirius made a lot of noise flipping the page in his Daily Prophet. "What's _not_ the matter with Remus?"

"What does that mean?" Molly whipped her eyes from the door and fixed them on the straggly, black haired man sitting at her table. Well, it wasn't _her_ table. It was Sirius's house they were in, so in all technicalities, no matter how much abuse he might have afflicted upon it, it was _his_ table.

Sirius flipped another page. "Are the kids coming home anytime soon?"

"Sirius," Molly sighed. "It's February 15th! They're in school!"

"Right," Sirius whispered.

Molly shook her head slightly, frowning. She felt….she _almost_ felt bad for Sirius. Being cooped up in his old family house, having to be away from Harry, being forced to dwell on everything.

Then Molly saw the track of muddy paw prints across the floor and any drop of sympathy in her body condensed and evaporated into angry clouds of frustration.

"Siri-"

"Sorry, Molls. Can I call you Molls? Molls, it was an accident."

Molly stared at Sirius. "Are you going to-"

"Can't."

"-clean it up?"

"I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"It's…you'll….I'm on call," Sirius quickly hid his face in the Prophet.

Molly set about securing her cleaning supplies, and bewitching them to degrease, scrub and wax Grimmauld's grimy kitchen floor. "You're on call for what exactly?"

"It's top secret," Sirius said. "Oh! An article about scarf making."

Molly charmed her mop and turned towards the kitchen sick and it's increasingly growing pile of dishes.

"Today's the day!" A shrill voice pierced the room. "My da_aaaaayyyyyy_!" Tonks slid across the soapy expanse of floor colliding with the counter.

"Floor's wet," Sirius said, smiling wide at Tonks.

"No, is it?" Tonks asked. "It's my day! And now my socks are all wet, and my feet are going to get damp, and moldy, and smell, and get all wrinkly, and then I won't be able to walk!"

"Oh, Tonks," Molly said, looking up from the sink at the bubble-gum headed, sprite of a girl next to her. "You can't walk with _regular_ feet."

Sirius let out his greatest bark laugh. "Look at you Molls! Being funny!" he roared.

"We need one of those Muggle signs that indicate water spillage. That's what we need to have."

"Nymphadora, we, _you_, need to not gallop into a room without paying attention, shrieking about how it's your day. And, I'm sorry I didn't know! Happy Birthday!"

"Birthday?"

Molly tilted her head to the side. "You said it's your day."

"Yeah, it is."

"Your birthday."

"No, just my day."

Molly sighed audibly, and turned away from the conversation, to avoid the massive headache that usually accompanied talking to Nymphadora Tonks.

"I'll bite," Sirius said, dropping his paper. "I usually do," he added, winking at Molly. Sirius straightened his posture, and dropped his smile at Molly's warning-death-is-adamant look. "Why, Tonksy, is it your day?"

Tonks had hopped up onto the counter, and was in the middle of peeling her right sock off. "It's February 15th."

Sirius clapped his hands together in mock glee. "And tomorrow is, gasp, February 16th! The coincidence!"

Tonks tried to throw her damp sock at Sirius. It only managed to drop with a disgusting _squelch_ onto the floor in front of her. "Why do you-"

Tonks's high pitched squeal stopped, and all three heads sprang to attention at the sound of the kitchen door being banged against the wall.

"Woops," Remus murmured, pulling the door back to its frame. "Don't know my own strength, sometimes, hope I didn't break it, I just wanted something sweet, chocolate maybe, feeling funny, can't wait…" Remus's barely coherent rambling trailed off as he passed through the kitchen, not making eye contact with any inhabitant, and into the dining room next to it, apparently looking for chocolate.

Molly looked after his trail, worry etched into her face. "What's the matter with him? He's been acting so skittish all day. Should I call Dumbledore? Maybe I should call Dumbledore."

"It's alright, Molls," Sirius spoke up. He quickly shook off his own look of worry, though his eyes still lingered on the dining room door. "Remus'll snap out of it."

"Yeah, he will," Tonks exclaimed, pulling at her left sock. "Once he gets some sweet _loving_."

Molly rolled her eyes and made her way over to the table, taking a seat across from Sirius. "Tonks! Leave the poor man alone!"

"I can't. Not today! The greatest day on Earth!"

"What's so big about February 15th?"

"Wait," Sirius said, holding his hand out like a stop sign. "Did you just say that today is February 15th?"

Molly blinked at him, and nodded.

"Oh."

"That's, _ow_, right," Tonks said, sliding, or falling, off the counter. She sauntered over to the kitchen table.

"_Oh_," Sirius repeated. Tonks nodded, biting her bottom lip in excitement.

Molly conjured up a tray of tea. She could just see a conversation sprouting and she didn't want her throat to get parched. "Tonks, darling, why are you so excited about some random day?" Molly asked, offering Tonks the bowl of sugar.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "Because she thinks-"

"Because today is the day I ensnare my man!"

The dining room door shot open, demanding their immediate attention. "Found some Honeydukes, probably Harry's, kind of melted, I remember that time, sixth grade, when Padfoot put a candy bar down my-"

"Thank Merlin he left before finishing that gem of a story," Molly remarked, sipping her tea.

Sirius smiled fondly at the kitchen door, laughing to himself.

"So, Tonks?" Molly chirped a second later. "Who's this man you're ensnaring?"

"Remus."

"_Remckaoghtusack_," Molly choked. After a couple of hearty coughs, Molly looked up, red faced, at Tonks. "Remus _Lupin_?"

"The one and only," Tonks sighed.

Sirius stuck his finger down his throat, and pretended to gag. "Are you…you like him?" Molly asked, throwing a napkin at Sirius.

Tonks nodded enthusiastically.

"And you plan on _ensnaring_ him? Today?"

Tonks nodded again.

"Tonks," Molly said, her voice dropping into a deep scolding tone. "I absolutely forbid you from using a love potion on that poor man!"

Tonks rolled her eyes. "I'm not using a potion. Nor am I using my wand or any sort of magic to get Remus to fall in love with me, so don't worry."

"I won't," Molly said, wrapping her hands around her tea cup, much the same way she wished she could wrap them around Tonks's neck. "I just don't see why you can't send Remus a nice card. Yesterday was Valentine's Day! Send him a valentine telling him you like him."

"_I_ sent Moony a valentine," Sirius said, taking a large gulp of his tea, and looking pretty pleased with himself.

Tonks's face dropped. "You did?"

"Yep," Sirius smirked. He reached across the table, pulling Remus's discarded briefcase towards him. Pulling it out of an inside pocked, Sirius presented Tonks and Molly with a pale red index card.

Tonks grabbed it, holding it up to her face. "_I'm Siriusly Lupin for you_," she read.

"It's a play on words," Sirius commented.

"I see," Tonks grumbled. For some reason, she felt extremely angry at the existence of the simple card.

Molly smiled warmly at Sirius. "I think that's adorable, Sirius!"

"Thanks, Molls." Sirius rose from his seat slightly, and pulled something from the back of his jeans. "I made one for Severus too."

Molly took the card from Sirius's outstretched hands, and read the script out loud. "_Please die._"

Sirius coiled into a fit of giggles. Tonks even forgot Sirius's valentine to Remus, giggling madly herself.

"Sirius," Molly scolded, handing the card back. "I hope you didn't give that to him!"

"Of course I didn't," Sirius said, putting the card back into his pocket. "He wasn't here yesterday," he added, shrugging.

"Anyways," Molly shouted over the two cousins' boisterous laugher. "Tonks, why do you like Remus?"

Tonks sighed. "He's smart. And sweet. And kind. And intelligent. And caring. And brilliant."

"You're just using different words to describe the same two traits," Sirius pointed out.

"Remus is a nice man," Molly said. She reached her hand out, laying it on top of Tonks's. "But, isn't he just a little too old for you?"

"No!" Tonks shrieked, tearing her hand away. "Love knows no age! And I love Remus!"

Molly shot a withering glance at Sirius. "Nymphadora," Molly tried again. She thought maybe using Tonks's birth name might make her statements less severe. It's not that Molly wanted to shoot Tonks's dream down; Molly just didn't want to stand by and see Tonks's heart break if Remus didn't reciprocate her feelings. "You can't possibly love Remus. You barely know him! And, there is my next point. Maybe you should become his friend before you try to _ensnare_ him."

"Maybe you should see if Moony even wants to be ensnared," Sirius added.

"This," Tonks began, jabbing her finger at Molly and Sirius. "This is the greatest day of my life, and you two are ruining it with your down trodden thoughts on love!" Tonks rose from her seat, glaring down at Molly. "I'll have you know that I've talked to Remus on many an occasion and it is my belief that I am his perfect woman."

"Hmm," Molly said, thoughtfully. "I would have never placed you with Remus."

"Why?" Tonks huffed.

"Mainly the hair."

Tonks threw her hands in the air. "I _can_ change it. Hello! Metamorphmagus, here!"

Molly frowned. "I meant the personality behind the hair. You're hair color reflects who you are, Tonks. You know that."

"Whatever, Molly! Tomorrow morning when I'm strolling out of Remus's room, you'll be in for a surprise."

"You're right," Molly said, getting up from her seat. She levitated the tea tray and sent it to the sink. "I'll be pretty surprised that Remus, the gentleman, moved so quickly."

Tonks held her head high, chin out in determination. "He doesn't have a choice. It's February 15th."

Molly spun around to face Tonks. "What is the big deal about February 15th?"

"It's Lupercalia," she smirked.

"And _what_-" Molly's shriek was cut off by the familiar creaking bang of the kitchen door.

Remus stuck his graying head into the room. "Hi. Uh, Pads. I can't…I've finished my work…I think it's…you should..._you know_. Like _now_."

"Ok, Moony," Sirius said, rising smugly from his chair. "I'll be up there in a minute." Sirius really wanted to wait and hear Tonks's explanation of Lupercalia, but, he had somewhere much better to be at the moment. "See you tomorrow, ladies," he said, laughing to himself, and just confusing the two woman.

Tonks looked down at her watch. "Tomorrow? It's only noon."

"Never mind him," Molly picked up their conversation pre-Remus. "_What_ is Lupercalia?"

Tonks had the decency to blush, her cheeks turning a color that clashed awfully with her hair. "Lupercalia is the official mating day of wolves. Werewolves."

Molly's mouth dropped open. "_Tonks!_" Molly finally managed to shout. "Honestly! Preying on poor Remus! That is an awful way to make someone fall in love with you….oh." Molly looked towards the ceiling, barely hearing the certain door, of a certain resident werewolf, locking. "_Oh_."

Tonks sighed, placing her hands on her hips, completely oblivious to Molly's revelation. "Well, I've tried everything else! I'm seriously Lupin for him!"

Molly stepped closer to Tonks; an idea pulsing in her head. "You and me need to have a nice long girl talk," she said. She began to lead Tonks into the sitting room. "Actually-" Molly cast one more glance at the ceiling. "Let's go out."


End file.
